Stats: Tamim Iqbal and Shadman Islam share a record partnership against New Zealand

Bangladesh found a solid opening partner for Tamim Iqbal during the Hamilton Test where they started the 3-match Test series against New Zealand with a defeat. He added 57 runs with Shadman Islam in the first innings during the first Test in only 10.2 overs. They bettered their stand in the 2nd essay by adding 88 in 22.3 overs but wasn’t enough to keep their team away from an innings defeat. The duo once again stood tall against the New Zealand pacers this time in Basin Reserve.

The 2nd Test match in Wellington had the first two days washed out and the toss was possible only on the 3rd day. On a pitch with green cover backed by the overcast conditions, skipper Kane Williamson elected to bowl first. The Blackcaps hardly found any movement and the new opening pair of Bangladesh were good enough to utilize. Tamim and Shadman shared a 75-run stand in 20.2 overs before Islam edged one to the slip cordon in the bowling of Colin de Grandhomme.

Shadman made 27 off 53 balls while Tamim struck a 114-ball 74 before getting out in the 2nd sessions. With the partnerships of 57, 88 and 75 in consecutive innings, the Tamim and Shadman pair registered a hat-trick of 50+ stands. Thus, they became only the 3rd visiting pair in New Zealand with three or more consecutive fifty-run opening stands in Test history. South African pair of Eddie Barlow and Trevor Goddard had three hundred partnerships in succession and four 50+ stands in a row.

Barlow-Goddard opened the innings during 1964 series on five out of six occasions and add 40+ in all those six innings. The other visiting pair with a hat-trick of fifty-plus stands in New Zealand was Herschelle Gibbs and Gary Kirsten. This South African pair had partnerships of 70 and more in three straight innings during the 1999 series. Among the opening pairs from Asia, none of them before Tamim and Shadman had more than two 50-run stands in Test cricket in New Zealand.

Most consecutive 50+ opening stands by a visiting pair in New Zealand:

(Stats as on March 10, 2019)

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